


Moment to Bond

by Doppeltrolle



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), ouat
Genre: AU, Drabble, Fic, Gen, General, M/M, Other, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-07 07:30:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/745915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doppeltrolle/pseuds/Doppeltrolle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>New drabble up!</p>
<p>AU: Jefferson and Grace are on board Captain Hook's ship, traveling to different lands. Jefferson and Hook have been getting rather close, and when Grace finds the Captain reminiscing alone she takes the chance to ask him something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moment to Bond

**Author's Note:**

> New drabble up, everyone -- this is exciting!
> 
> This drabble takes place in an AU, where it was requested Killian and Jefferson had taken up co-raising Grace back in FTL, sailing to new lands and giving her an opportunity. Jefferson has previously tried to make Hook give up his tyrant for Rumpelstiltskin, but Killian is reluctant to let go of such a deep grudge. So he is spending his evening musing when Grace pops above deck and decides to chat him up. 
> 
> As always, comments, critiques, and kudos welcome. :) I enjoy feedback.

Dark brown, leather boots strapped to lean, muscular calves as they dangled through the wooden columns of the deck. He was sitting at the bow, jeweled fingers aimlessly tapping the side of his half-consumed drink. The air was gentle tonight, given that he was awoken early to the crash of choppy waters and thunder. Even as his kohl-smudged eyes scanned the orange, pink and purple horizon he found he could no longer remember what he was musing about. Sunsets had that effect on him, and he found it calming in those prior years, coupled with many drinks to take the edge off his pain. He'd done it for so long that it became ritual, when many of his fellow shipmates had retired to their quarters for the evening.

It hadn't been long since he had made the decision to give up the chase. Yes, that was what he had been mulling over this evening. The night that he made the choice to forsake his desire for revenge. Jefferson, the absolutely, charmingly sarcastic hatter from Storybrooke had been grilling him that night; pressing him to confront his worst fears. He was stuck, unable to move forward or stay behind, and he was made to realize he couldn't have both. For the days and weeks that followed the decision lingered over him like a thick perfume, almost choking him with the anxiety that he had possibly chosen wrong. Could he live with having wasted all that time and not have anything save for a lost hand to show for it? Would Milah think he a coward for giving up the chase?

Soft footsteps startled him from his thoughts, not realizing he'd sunken so deep into his reverie that someone had snuck up on him. Killian cocked his head, tipping it over his shoulder to see who had come upon his dwelling spot. It was Grace, the Hatter's daughter. Killian always thought her to be the rabbit, the way her nose scrunched up when she was thinking about something that was said to her. Killian was no stranger amongst children, having spent a lot of time in Neverland, but having one on board his ship actually intrigued about other lands seemed to throw him.

" Shouldn't you be getting ready for bed?" The captain asked as she settled down next to him, sticking her own legs through the wooden beams. She looked up, hood falling off of her head in the process. She was quiet for a moment, before her face split into a rather large smile.

" It's not dark out, yet, and I wanted to see the sunset, too. Is that alright?" She asked, peering at him. The captain could only smile back, for how could he ever tell her no?

He lifted the bottle to his lips, having forgotten that it was still there. The liquid left an all-too-familiar burning sensation in the back of his throat, leaving him awash with distaste. Still, it helped.

" Why do you even drink that stuff? It smells terrible." Came the small voice next to him. She was still peering at him with that same expression.

" Habit. Doesn't even taste all that good, anymore, but it helps me think. Forget."

" Forget what?"

It was Killian's turn to pause now, tongue touching the lip of the bottle and letting the acidity wash over his tastebuds. He wasn't sure how to answer that one. "Things I don't want to remember. People, mostly." He responded vaguely, shifting his weight so he could fully face her. The bottle settled back onto the deck with a heavy thunk, fingers unwinding themselves from the neck he'd been holding so tightly to, only to fall into his lap uselessly.

" Is it 'Milah'?" Grace asked next, her eyes spilling with the question she had yet to ask.

Whether he was expecting that question to come or not it still caught him off-guard, and he found himself staring incredulously at her. " How do you know about Milah?"

" Your tattoo. It says 'Milah'. I heard you murmur the name before, but I didn't get to ask Jefferson who it was. Was it your wife? There's no other females on board, so-"

" -She wasn't my wife." Killian replied shortly.

" Oh." Grace grew silent again. She looked down at her shoes, and seemed to be concentrating much too hard on the water beneath them now.

" She was a lover of mine. My first real lover." Killian said to her, watching her little eyes shoot up towards his face, searching for the words that had yet to be spoken. " She was already betrothed to another man, had a child, a life. It was a life that made her greatly unhappy and she asked me to steal her away."

" Did you? Did she sail with you? Did you take her child, too? Did you go on adventures?" She pressed, eager to soak up all that he could tell her. He smiled, but it wasn't happy anymore.

" You really want to know?" She nodded. "Alright, then. It's not a happy story, I must warn you.

Yes, I did steal her away. She came with me and we sailed together. Visited all sorts of places, like the way we are right now. She didn't have the heart to take her child away from his father, though. She didn't want her old life. Could I blame her for wanting to start over without anything to remind her of how miserable she'd been? Not really. But the time came when we docked at the land that we had first met. Our happiness was not meant to last, and when her husband found me, he was enraged, thinking I had kidnapped her and demanded I set her free, at the cost of my life if I did not. I told him I didn't know who he was talking about. We fought, her husband and I, and when the tips of our swords crossed he bested me. I would have been killed right there had Milah not stopped him. He did kill her, in the end. In his rage and jealousy over her having never really loved him he ended her life." Killian could feel his voice wavering, and he took another drink, steadying himself.

" I lost my hand that day, too. Lost many things. I wanted to avenge it all, so I promised that I would kill him for having killed someone I cared so deeply about."

" Have you killed him?" Grace asked, eyes wide. She was enraptured by the story he had woven for her, holding it around herself like an invisible blanket while she absorbed everything he told her.  
"...No. I have come close many times, but I never killed him. In fact, your father swayed me to change my mind." He replied, his grimace changing into a more genuine smile. " It's because of his nature I decided to end my pursuit."

She breathed a sigh of happiness and turned out towards the fading sunset. " It sounds incredibly sad," She said wistfully. " But I'm glad you are moving on with us." Grace glanced back to him, leaning against him now. The captain seemed shocked initially, then took his free arm and held her against his side.

" Thank you for that, Grace. I am glad you both are here." He responded.

" As are we." Came a second voice, Killian didn't have to look to know who had joined them. Jefferson settled down on his other side, eyes wide in an almost shocked expression but Killian knew to just be his normal face. Before he could muster a response Killian found warm, salty lips upon his own and it was his turn to be surprised.

When they parted, Grace's small face was looking between them, first shocked then pleased. It was all Jefferson could do to not laugh at her. He moved closer to the pirate, his pirate, stealing the bottle Killian had long-since abandoned and taking a swig.

" I knew it." Grace whispered excitedly to herself.

"I knew it."


End file.
